Sewing-machine needle-guard.



G. E. FELSENTHAL.

SEWING MACHINE NEEDLE GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9.1915.

1,174,973. Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

Fig. 1.

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GUSTAV E. FELSENTHAL, '03 NE! YORK, N. Y.

SEWING-MACHINE NEEDLE-GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1%, 1216}.

Application filed. June 9, 1915. Serial No. 33,067.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUs'rAv E. FnLsnN- THAL, a citizenof the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Sewtached to the presser foot of any sewing machine for protecting the fingers of the operator while sewing although affording an unobstructed vision of the sewing needle and the material positioned beneath the presser foot.

A further object of the invention is to provide a finger protecting needle guard which is cheap and easy to manufacture and which allows free visual access to the needle at all times as well as allowing a removal and a rethreading thereof when desired without requiring any adjustment of the dev1ce.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a readily attached presser foot carried needle guard having a pivotal foot portion adjustably resting upon the material, which is being sewed by the needle operating within the inclosure of the guard.

With these general objects in View and others that will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this application and in which like-designating characters refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of the device operatively mounted upon the presser foot of a sewing machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view thereof, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the guard device detached.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, the finger guard 10 is herein illustrated provided with a channel-shaped bracket 11 adapted to fit the shank portion 12 of a presser foot 13 and to be retained thereon by means of a set screw 14 which is received within the slot 15 of the said bracket and by means of which screw the presser foot is secured to the presser bar 16 of the sewing machine head 17.

The sewing machine is provided with the usual needle bar 18 having a removable sewing needle 19 secured thereto by means of a screw 20, the needle being adapted for vertical reciprocations during the sewing operation within a recess 21. The bracket 11 has its forward side 22 provided with a downward extension 23 which is provided upon the side adjacent the left hand of the operator with a skeleton guard or plate 24 formed integral with the bracket and forwardly projecting at one side of the needle 19 and substantially centrally above the engaging portion of the presser foot.

A lug 25 is formed integral with the bracket extension 23 upon the side thereof opposite the said skeleton guard and has an L- shaped guard foot 26 pivoted thereto as at 27, and the said foot 26 has a flattened bottom portion 28 normally positioned over the material which is being sewed by the needle and which material passing beneath the presser foot 13 is engaged by the guard foot 26 at the side cut-away portion of the presser foot, as the presser foot is commonly constructed.

-With the device thus mounted upon the presser foot, the needle 19 reciprocates withinthe socket 21 of the presser foot between the skeleton guard 2A and the guard foot 26 so that neither hand of the operator can be brought accidentally beneath the needle on account of the oppositely positioned guard members which members also project forwardly of the needle although allowing free access at all times to both the needle and the material which is being sewed thereby. The pivoted guard foot 26 automatically ac commcdates itself to the thickness of the material being sewed and which passes thereunder and the same may be thrown backward if desired by means of the finger hold 29 upon the upper free end thereof.

It will thus be seen that an inexpensive guard is provided which constitutes a safety device for protecting operators of sewing machines, while interfering in no manner with the efficient operation of the machine.

WVhile the form of the invention herein shown and described is what is believed to be the preferred embodiment thereof, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor the said guard foot and plate adapted to changes, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention a as claimed.

What is claimed as new is 7 l. A sewing machlne guard comprlslng in combination with a presser foot and a set tion in the same plane as the engaging portion of the presser foot, and a turned-over hand hold at the upper forward end of the said guard foot.

2, A needle guard for sewing machines comprising a bracket for inclosing the shank portion of a machine presser foot, a fixed skeleton, guard and a vertically swinging pivotal guard foot forwardly carried by the said bracket upon opposite sides of the machine needle and providing an unobstructed open space therebetween'.

3. A needle guard for sewing machines comprising a bracket adapted for removable attachment to the machine presser foot rearwardly of the needle of the machine, an integral skeleton guard plate atone side of the said bracket, a lug at'the opposite edge thereof, an L-shaped guard foot pivoted for vertical movements upon the said lug and adapted to seat forwardly of the presser foot upon the goods to be operated upon,

cut-away side portion, a bracket seated upon thepresser foot, a needle reciprocatingly mounted adjacent the said presser foot, a

forwardly projecting skeleton guard carried bythe bracket at one side of the needle, and a depending L-shaped, guard foot pivotally carried by the bracket for vertical movement at the opposite sideof the needle and having a flattened bottom portion nor- 'mallypositioned within the said cut-away side portion of the saidpresser foot.

5. A device of the class described comprising incombination with a sewing machine presser foot having a side cut-away portion and a sewing needle, a downwardlyfor-' V v wardly projecting L-shaped guard foot pivotally mounted upon the said presser foot and having a bottom material-engaging portion in the same plane as the engaging portion ofthe presser foot, anda turned-over" 3 hand-hold at the upper forward end of the said guard foot. i

6. A'device of the class described comprising anangular bracket provided adjacent one side thereof with a downwardlyand forwardly projecting L-shaped guard foot pivotally mounted and adapted for yieldingly seating upon the goods to'be operated upon, and a skeleton guard upon the said bracket opposite the said foot-carried side thereof;

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature GUSTAV E. FELSENTHAL.

Witnesses:

MILTON L. KNoEPHn, JosEPH REICHMAN,

Copies '0: this patent may be obtained for five cents each,jby addressing .the,0on missioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0. a 

